2026 Lenten Season - Day 15 - Your Spiritual War

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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The core enemy in our struggle with sin is not wrong behavior, but the idolatry behind the behavior.

The God of grace has given us an interesting passage in the book of Ezekiel so that we would have a clearer understanding of the nature of our daily battle with sin. Because I’m convinced that on this side of eternity, life is one big spiritual war, I have gone back to this passage again and again. Spiritual war is what makes marriage and parenting difficult. Spiritual war is what messes up our friendships and causes us to get ourselves into hopeless debt. Spiritual war causes us to eat too much and to go to places on the internet we should not go. Spiritual war makes it easy for us to blow three hours binge-watching a series on Netflix, while the same amount of time spent studying God’s word seems so hard. Spiritual war causes us to be materialistic, entitled, and demanding, never quite satisfied and never truly happy. Spiritual war is at the root of endless human disappointment and heartache. We are all in a war, whether we know it or not.

If you want to understand your spiritual battles, you need to know and understand Ezekiel 14:1–5: [Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? Therefore, speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols."]

In order to understand this convicting and illuminating passage, we must understand two terms. The first is stumbling block. In the Bible, a stumbling block is anything or anyone that leads you to desire to do something that is wrong in the eyes of God (sin). The second term is idol. The biblical teaching on idolatry goes way beyond the sphere of formal religious idolatry. It’s possible that you can have no formal religious idols in your life and yet be serving idols every day. Here’s how the Bible defines idolatry: an idol is any person, place, or thing that exercises control over the thoughts and desires of your heart that only God should have.

At first look, this passage is about the right people doing the right thing. The elders of Israel, who are the nation’s spiritual leaders, are coming to God’s prophet to hear a word from the Lord. But the message that came back was not at all what they expected to hear. God essentially says, “These men have idols in their hearts that will put a wicked stumbling block before their faces, and because this is true, it is the only thing that I am interested in talking about.” God is saying that whatever rules your heart will exercise inescapable control over your behavior. Whatever captures your thoughts and desires will then direct the things that you do and say. God knew that if he did not deal with the deeper issue of their idolatry, whatever he told them would be twisted by or used in the service of their idols. Notice that God is not talking about statues of false gods, but something that had taken residence in and control over the hearts of these men.

You can be theologically aware and biblically literate and still be serving idols in your daily life. You can be faithful in personal daily worship and still have actions, reactions, and responses at street level that are shaped by idols. You can be involved with ministry and have areas in your life that are under the active and functional control of something other than God. It could be the love or respect of another person, it could be the desire for control, it could be a position of power and influence, it could be the desire for a certain experience, it could be the need to be right, or the quest to be successful, or the love of theological knowledge, or the desire for material possessions. It could be hatred or bitterness against another person, it could be physical strength or beauty, it could be anything in creation that replaces the rightful rule of the Creator in your heart. Anything this side of God can become an idol.

This is where the spiritual war rages. It always rages at the level of the thoughts and desires of your heart. It is always deeper than behavior. It is fought at the point of the thing that controls your behavior, that is, the thoughts and motives of your heart. And this war rages on in the most mundane moments of our everyday lives. It also needs to be said that idolatry is not just the desire for what God says is evil. Desire for even a good thing becomes a bad thing when that desire becomes a ruling thing. Theological knowledge is a good thing, but if being knowledgeable becomes more important than loving the one that is the object of that knowledge, theological knowledge has become an idol and will cause you to make bad choices in thought, word, and deed.

I am afraid that because of my biblical literacy, my theological knowledge, and my ministry commitments, I have sometimes thought I was spiritually safe when I was not safe, because some desire in my heart was increasingly taking control of my thoughts and shaping my words and actions.

What about you? Do you tend to think that spiritual warfare doesn’t include you? Have you fallen into thinking that because of your involvement in the body of Christ and its ministries that there could be no idols in your life? Have you assumed a level of personal spiritual safety that may not be true? During this season of Lent, how about confessing to a wandering heart? How about asking your Lord to reveal to you where your heart may be under the control of something other than God? How about examining

what you really crave or what you really want for your life? How about looking for that person, place, or thing that has become too important to you? And how about crying out for the rescuing grace that Jesus died to give you?

May sorrow over the idolatry that still plagues you drive you into a deeper dependency on the rescuing and forgiving grace of your Savior and into a deeper celebration of the freedom that he promises you now and even more completely in the forever with him that is to come.

GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions

1. What are the stumbling blocks in your life—those things that tempt you to sin?

2. What are the idols in your life—things that control your thoughts and desires or that you crave in an unhealthy way?

3. What are you doing to remove the stumbling blocks and idols from your heart?

Read Ephesians 6:10–18, and resolve to fight the spiritual battle for your heart with the weapons God has provided.

Ephesians 6:10-18  New Living Translation

The Whole Armor of God

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then, after the battle, you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 4

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
We will share "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.

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God intends suffering to pry open our hands so we let go of the things of this earth and hold more tightly to Jesus. 

What has you in its hold? Don’t rush to answer. Stop and give this question some consideration. What do you feel you can’t live without? What has the ability to make or break your day? What has the power to make you very sad? What can produce almost instant happiness? The loss of what would leave you a bit depressed? What do you tend to attach your identity to? What tends to control your wishes? What do others have that causes you to envy? If you could get just one thing, what would it be? The absence of what tempts you to question God’s goodness? What does your use of money tell you about what’s important to you? What fills your fantasies and your dreams? What would the videos of your last six weeks reveal about what has you in its hold? What physical idols tempt you most? What relational idols attract you the most? Is there a place where you’re asking the creation to do what only the Creator can?

Lent is an important tool in the inescapable battle that rages in all our hearts between worship and service of the Creator and worship and service of the creation. Lent calls us to remember once again that sin reduces us all to idolaters somehow, someway. It gives us a season to take time and reflect on things that have taken too strong a hold on us, things that we have come to crave too strongly and love too dearly. It reminds us that often things that we are holding tightly have actually taken an even tighter hold on us.

Here’s the core of the struggle: as long as sin still resides in our hearts, we will have an inclination to ask the physical creation to do for us what the Creator alone is able to do. Everyone is in search of true and lasting joy. Everyone wants peace of heart. Everyone wants to be content. Everyone is searching for life. Everyone wants to be deeply, fully, and perfectly loved. Everyone wants a heart that is satisfied. So everyone is on a quest to find these things even when they don’t know they are. Everyone looks for identity. Everyone searches for something that will give them meaning and purpose. Everyone searches for something to hook their hope to. In this way, everyone is born searching for God. They just don’t know it.

Because creation is so obvious (you can see it, you can taste it, you can feel it, and you can smell it), it’s tempting to look to it to deliver all the things for which we are all searching. But satisfaction of our hearts is not the purpose of the physical creation; it actually has a much higher purpose. Creation was made to point us to the one who alone has the power to satisfy our longing hearts. He is the bread that will satisfy our hunger. He is the living water that makes us thirst no longer. With every vista, on every day, with every new experience and each new look, creation has been designed to point us to God.

But there’s even more to think about here. Looking to creation to do what it was not meant to do will not only disappoint us; it will enslave us. Idols never just disappoint us; they addict us as well. Because the buzz of joy that creation gives us is so short, we have to go back again and again, and soon we’re convinced we cannot live without the next hit. What we tightly hold onto takes hold of us, now commanding of us what only God should ever command: our hearts. And what holds our hearts will dictate our words and behavior.

It is possible to think that you are a God-worshiper because he is the object of your formal religious worship, but when it comes to the day-by-day affections of your heart, something or someone else could be in control. And it’s not always that we are under the control of evil things. Often good things have control over us that they should not have. As I have written elsewhere, good things become bad things when they become ruling things.

So how about letting yourself suffer loss for a season? Let go of things you tend to prize. Let this season of sacrifice loosen your hands and free your heart. Let go of some of your comforts, things that have perhaps comforted you too much, so that your heart is free to seek a better Comforter. Pray that a season of going without will refocus your eyes and reposition your heart. God is good at using seasons of suffering to cause us to let go of our dependency on created things and reach out in dependency to our Creator, Savior, and Lord. 

May this season’s discomforts lead us to find lasting comfort in him.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Spend some time meditating on and perhaps journaling about the diagnostic questions from the devotional. Based on that exercise, what are some idols you are tempted to bow down to?

2. What things do you ask the physical creation to do that only God can do? If you’re stumped, take a look at where you seek pleasure and what causes conflict in your closest relationships.

3. Now you are ready to answer the real question: What do you need to give up, for a season or more permanently, to root the idols out of your heart?

Read Luke 9:23–25 and Romans 6:1–14, and prayerfully consider what you might give up during this season of Lent as a way to find your comfort in Christ. 

Luke 9:23–25

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

Romans 6:1–14

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

Present Your Case (reprint by request)

“Present the case for your idols,” says the Lord. “Let them show what they can do,” says the King of Israel. “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence. Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what’s going to happen. Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead. Then we will know you are gods. In fact, do anything—good or bad! Do something that will amaze and frighten us. But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Those who choose you pollute themselves.
Isaiah 41: 21-24 NLT

I look at statues of foreign gods and I wonder, "How can anyone worship that - or think that's worthy of honor or praise?" (I might step on some toes here...but remember, Jesus is still our Healer and our Redeemer and He calls us to forgive one another...) And as I pondered how anyone could be so blinded or dense as to think something made of stone or wood - something with no life in it could be a god, the Lord served me up a big helping of humble pie...

For you see, I have worshiped at the throne of the Dairy Queen. I have built my own tower of CDs and DVDs. I have been a willing slave to untold hours at several jobs for the praise of humans. Are these things I could bring as acceptable offerings into God's Temple? I have a wild imagination and a fair amount of reasoning ability, but even I can't reconcile "Whiskey River take my mind..." as speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; (Ephesians 5:19).

Here is what God has to say about Himself.
"I'm first, I'm last, and everything in between. I'm the only God there is. Who compares with me? Speak up. See if you measure up. From the beginning, who else has always announced what's coming? So what is coming next? Anybody want to venture a try? Don't be afraid, and don't worry: Haven't I always kept you informed, told you what was going on? You're my eyewitnesses: Have you ever come across a God, a real God, other than me? There's no Rock like me that I know of."
Isaiah 44: 6b-8 The Message

He goes on to explain about idols...
All those who make no-god idols don't amount to a thing, and what they work so hard at making is nothing. Their little puppet-gods see nothing and know nothing—they're total embarrassments! Who would bother making gods that can't do anything, that can't "god"? Watch all the no-god worshipers hide their faces in shame. Watch the no-god makers slink off humiliated when their idols fail them. Get them out here in the open. Make them face God-reality. The blacksmith makes his no-god, works it over in his forge, hammering it on his anvil—such hard work! He works away, fatigued with hunger and thirst.

The woodworker draws up plans for his no-god, traces it on a block of wood. He shapes it with chisels and planes into human shape—a beautiful woman, a handsome man, ready to be placed in a chapel. He first cuts down a cedar, or maybe picks out a pine or oak, and lets it grow strong in the forest, nourished by the rain. Then it can serve a double purpose: Part he uses as firewood for keeping warm and baking bread; from the other part he makes a god that he worships—carves it into a god shape and prays before it. With half he makes a fire to warm himself and barbecue his supper. He eats his fill and sits back satisfied with his stomach full and his feet warmed by the fire: "Ah, this is the life." And he still has half left for a god, made to his personal design—a handy, convenient no-god to worship whenever so inclined. Whenever the need strikes him he prays to it, "Save me. You're my god."

Pretty stupid, wouldn't you say? Don't they have eyes in their heads? Are their brains working at all? Doesn't it occur to them to say, "Half of this tree I used for firewood: I baked bread, roasted meat, and enjoyed a good meal. And now I've used the rest to make an abominable no-god. Here I am praying to a stick of wood!" This lover of emptiness, of nothing, is so out of touch with reality, so far gone, that he can't even look at what he's doing, can't even look at the no-god stick of wood in his hand and say, "This is crazy..."
Isaiah 44:9-20 The Message

Here is what God, our Redeemer, declares to those who acknowledge and repent (verse 22): "I've wiped the slate of all your wrongdoings. There's nothing left of your sins. Come back to me, come back. I've redeemed you."

I never met a no-god or idol that could do any of that. And with the mistakes I make, I need a God who can...and will. And because of His love and mercy and His plan of salvation - bought and paid for by the precious Blood of Jesus - my case has been presented on the Cross.

Prayer;

Father,
             Let us never lose sight of that which is holy and righteous and good. Let us never forget that our lives have been bought with the price You paid for them. May our hearts and our allegiance be only to You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Finding the Balance

“Now build a new cart, and find two cows that have just given birth to calves. Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen. Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors you are sending as a guilt offering. Then let the cows go wherever they. If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not his hand that caused the plague. It came simply by chance.”

1st Samuel 6:7-9 NLT

Simply by chance. A coincidence. 

The story behind our text today is that the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant. Such triumph! At least, that's what they thought until they took the Ark to Ashdod into the temple of their idol Dagon. (See 1st Samuel 5). In the morning, with no one there, the idol had fallen with its face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. The people were sure it was just a coincidence, so they set the idol back up. The next morning, the same thing had happened, only that time the head and hands had been broken off the idol and were lying in the doorway. 

Keep in mind, the Philistines were not godly - they didn't understand right away. From that point on, when they entered the temple to worship Dagon, they didn't acknowledge that it was a broken, defeated idol per se, they just wouldn't step on the threshold where its head and hands had been. It reminds me of the response we get when we confront someone's unbelief with Truth from the Word and they respond with, "Oh, I know...but it's all good. At least I'm...." 

Well, no. Actually, it's not all good. The point is this. The Philistines were trying to make what is holy conform to a pagan lifestyle, instead of having their pagan lifestyle changed by what is holy.

I'm continually amazed at our seemingly superhuman capacity and ability to accommodate and allow the same thing in our lives today. We want to balance out - and make allowances for - our favorite sin by being "really good" in something else - or worse - by casting stones at someone else's sin. "Well, at least I don't do such-and-such, like so-and-so..."  

Newsflash! We can't balance holy and sin. We can't do enough good to balance out or dilute our sin so that it's palatable to God. 

There is only one way to find balance in our lives between our humanness and holiness. One way. Jesus. 

He hung in the balance for us.

Prayer:

Father,

         Open our eyes of understanding to Your Truth. Reveal to us Your pure definition of living a holy and righteous life before You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen